London: Anjem Choudary, a convicted Pakistani-British hate preacher, was detained on suspicion of a terrorism offense on Monday morning, according to the police.
On Tuesday, he was still being questioned in west London after being taken into custody at his home in Ilford on suspicion of belonging to a prohibited group.
In connection with the Choudary allegations, the counterterrorism division of the Metropolitan Police detained a Canadian citizen on Monday afternoon at Heathrow Airport.
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The organization Choudary has been charged with belonging to is still unknown.The police said in a statement that two men had been detained as part of an investigation into alleged terrorist offenses.
At around 5:40 a.m., the police in the area detained an east Londoner, age 56.
After arriving on a flight from Canada, they detained a 28-year-old Canadian national at Heathrow airport around 12:35 p.m.
"Both were detained on suspicion of participating in a banned group in violation of section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
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The men are currently being detained at a police station in west London under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Three addresses in east London are currently being searched by police.
As the leader of hate organizations like Al-Muhajiroun, Choudary is one of the most well-known Islamic extremists in the UK and was profiled in Arab News' "Preachers of Hate" series.
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Following the attacks on September 11, 2001 in New York City and the suicide bombings of July 7, 2005 in London, the British government outlawed the group under anti-terrorism laws. The group has previously referred to the 9/11 attackers as "magnificent martyrs."
Choudhary was given a five-and-a-half-year sentence in the UK in September 2016 for inciting Muslims to join Daesh, but he only completed about half of it.
